Since President Biden took office, several polls have shown that Americans are concerned about the direction of the country under his leadership. As a result, Biden’s overall job approval rating has been underwater, which Guy noted. Now, as issues like inflation and the border crisis continue to worsen, most Americans say they do not feel optimistic about the direction of the country in 2023.
A CBS News-YouGov poll published Monday showed that seventy-one percent of Americans said they feel either “scared” or “angry” about the direction of the country. Forty-nine percent said they feel “scared,” while 22 percent said they feel “angry.” The smallest amount, 11 percent, said they were “excited” about “things in the United States over the next year.”
In the poll, only 34 percent said that things in the country are going “very well” or “somewhat well.” Thirty-five percent said things are going “somewhat badly” while 30 percent said things are going “very badly.”
Seventy percent of the respondents said they are pessimistic about the cost of goods and services. Sixty percent said they are pessimistic about the economy. 80 percent of respondents said that the issue of the economy is “very important” for Congress to address, while 79 percent said inflation.
The poll findings showed that 48 percent of Republicans want House Republicans to work with Democrats on “matters where they can find common ground,” like inflation, crime and protecting Social Security.
Out of all the respondents who voted for Republicans in 2022, 89 percent said that lowering inflation should be a high priority for Congress. Eighty-five percent said securing the border, 77 percent said increasing U.S. energy production, and 77 percent said crime reduction.
When it comes to Democrat voters, 78 percent said that protecting Social Security and Medicare should be high priority for Congress. Seventy-one percent said addressing climate change, 67 percent said protecting abortion access, and 65 percent said lowering inflation.
More than half of Republicans said that the House of Representatives investigating Hunter Biden should be a “high priority.” And, more than 60 percent of Republicans think it is “very” or “somewhat” important for the party to have loyalty to former president Donald Trump.
The poll was taken January 4-6 over 2,144 adults in the United States and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.